Member Story:
“Pneumonia Symptoms Sent Me to the Hospital”

I had been experiencing coughing for about two weeks. After my symptoms worsened, I decided to go to my primary care physician and was given a non-prescription medicine to ease my symptoms. The medicine alleviated the problems and I assumed all was well.

PinnacleCare is definitely taking the health care experience to a new level. I am enjoying the personalized, professional service they offer and the genuine care they give to us.

However, a few days later, while we were away from Baltimore at our beach house for the weekend, I was out dining and lost my appetite and became very nauseous. I went back to the beach house and had my wife take my temperature, which was 102 degrees. We called my primary care physician, who was on vacation. I did not feel comfortable contacting the on-call physician for my doctor. We immediately thought to call PinnacleCare’s Advisor Hotline for advice. The on-call Advisor contacted PinnacleCare’s Medical Director, who urged me to go to the emergency room of a local hospital that he recommended.

When I arrived at the local hospital, I was pleasantly surprised that the Advisor had already contacted the hospital and informed them that I was on my way and why. I passed right through the emergency room line and was quickly seen. My wife and I waited only a few short hours to find out that I had come down with pneumonia. At my age, that is always an uneasy diagnosis to hear, so I was glad that we had taken immediate action. The hospital gave me an antibiotic by IV and then I was sent back to my beach home with another oral antibiotic for my symptoms and a non-prescription medication for my fever.

I was impressed that PinnacleCare’s assistance didn’t stop there. The Medical Director stayed in contact with us, to make sure the antibiotics weren’t too much for me.

My own Advisor also called to check on me to see how I was feeling after the weekend. PinnacleCare is definitely taking the health care experience to a new level. I am enjoying the personalized, professional service they offer and the genuine care they give to us.

The firm is now allowing its entire adviser force to refer clients to PinnacleCare, which also created a new elder-care assessment… Many advisers feel that dealing with elder-care issues isn’t their responsibility. But as clients age, “you’re going to be doing this whether you want to or not.”

In a time of serious illness, these advocates can help research new treatments that doctors may not know a lot about, cut through the medical bureaucracy, and perhaps help frame medical decisions more objectively than stressed out patients and their family members. Advocates are not just there to help you heal but also to keep you healthy.

— Anne Tergesen, “Your Guide to the Medical Maze”

Consider hiring a private patient advocate… It could help get you the care you need.

— Judy Foreman, “For when a doctor and a nurse just aren’t enough”

“Pinnacle provided me with a name and with research that said, ‘here’s how other people are going it, and here’s who has the most long-term survivors, and here are their stories.’ What I got from that was hope. Not a bad return on investment.”

— Gregory Taggart, “Deluxe Health Care”

“I always thought the medical staff would return phone calls, answer questions and discuss treatment plans and options. I was wrong.” So the family turned to…PinnacleCare for help. Within one day, a doctor on the company’s staff reviewed her mother’s medical records and set up a conference call with a neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins and a neurologist from Rush University Medical Center, who agreed to take on the case. “We needed someone on our side.”